The invention relates to a stacking column for storing articles one above the other or one beside the other on ratchet elements, which have a carrying arm and a control arm.
Stacking columns of this type are known, and available on the market, in a wide variety of shapes and designs. Stacking columns are used, in particular, for the production of vehicle-body parts in the automobile industry. Robots are used to remove the appropriate vehicle-body parts from the presses and to store them intermediately in stacking columns before they are processed further. It is usual for four stacking columns to be set up in a rectangle. Each stacking column has a multiplicity of ratchet elements which are arranged one above the other. A first ratchet element is located in the standby position. If an article is positioned on this ratchet element, the ratchet element pivots into the operating position and, at the same time, carries along a following ratchet element, which in this way passes into the standby position. A stacking column of this type is known, for example, from DE 38 11 310 C2.
There are also horizontal stacking columns, for example those presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,121, which serve a similar function.
In the case of all of these stacking columns, the successive ratchet elements are arranged alternately one beside the other, with the result that the corresponding carrying arms of successive ratchet elements are located in an offset manner in relation to one another. This results in the carrying arms of successive ratchet elements being positioned beneath the articles at different locations. Depending on the articles, this different arrangement of the carrying arms in relation to a stacking column may be problematic since uniform storage of the articles is desired.
The object of the present invention is to provide a stacking column of the above-mentioned type which eliminates the foregoing disadvantage, namely provides carrying arms which always grip beneath the articles at the same location.